Francis told donors who contributed both the Nativity set and an 82-foot tree that the story of Jesus’ birth echoes the “tragic reality of migrants on boats making their way toward Italy” from the Middle East and Africa today.

“The sad experience of these brothers and sisters recalls that of baby Jesus, who at the time of his birth could not find a place to stay when he was born in Bethlehem,” the pope said during a brief address in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. “He was then taken to Egypt to escape threats from Herod.”

This year’s Christmas tree is an evergreen from northern Italy. The Nativity scene was donated by the government of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta and that country’s Catholic bishops.

It was produced by Maltese artist Manwel Grech and features 17 figures dressed in traditional Maltese costumes as well as a replica of a typical Maltese boat.

The pope invited those who visit this Nativity scene to rediscover its “symbolic value,” which he called “a message of fraternity, of sharing, of welcome and solidarity.”

Francis also thanked the children who decorated the tree with the support of a foundation that organizes ceramic therapy workshops in Italian hospitals for children undergoing treatment for cancer and other illnesses.

The pontiff told them that “the multicolored ornaments you have created represent the values of life, love and peace that Christ’s Christmas proposes to us anew each year.”

The pope has spoken out in support of refugees many times and said there were many stories of migration in the Bible.

“Today the current economic crisis unfortunately fosters attitudes of closure instead of welcome,” he said during a weekly audience at the Vatican in October.

“In some parts of the world walls and barriers are being built. It appears that the silent work of men and women who, in different ways, do what they can to help and assist refugees and migrants is being drowned out by the noise made by those who give voice to an instinctive egoism,” he said.

The clerics, some as old as 50 years, have disappeared or died after security services labeled them terror suspects.

“The common thread is all the victims are Muslims perceived by authorities to be actual or potential terror suspects,” said Hussein Khalid, the executive director of Haki Africa, a human rights organization that has been offering legal aid for victims’ families.

According to activists, the clerics’ alleged crimes ranged from radicalizing youth to facilitating attacks and recruiting for al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia.

Kenya deployed troops to neighboring Somalia in 2011 to fight the extremist group al-Shabab but has since suffered several terrorist attacks on its soil.

Three years ago, Saada Juma Seleman’s husband, Hemed Salim Ahmad, disappeared when the police stormed the Masjid Musa after allegations surfaced that it was hosting terrorism training. He has never been seen again.

Now, Seleman, mother of three, said she doesn’t know what to tell her 9-year-old son, who wants to see his father.

“I have given him all kinds of explanations, but now I don’t know what to tell him,” she said. “It’s painful and traumatizing.”

Since 2014, she has embarked on a frustrating search for justice.

Haki Africa has documented 81 such cases from 2012-2016 in a report titled “What Do We Tell the Families?”

The report, released Wednesday (Dec. 7), indicates the killings increased after Kenyan troops entered in Somalia in 2011 in pursuit of al-Shabab.

The disappearances peaked after the September 2013 Westgate Mall massacre, in which attackers killed 67 Christians after separating them from Muslims.

A police spokesman, George Kinoti, released a statement in response to the report. “The National Police Service rejects the allegations as based on unfounded distortions of the real facts,” Kinoti said. “We also reject totally claims of religious profiling as we only focus on criminals irrespective of their religious affiliation.”

Christian clergy said that while they support the government rooting out terrorism, they do not support the disappearances and killings.

“We urge the government to investigate, since these killings cause unnecessary fear among the families,” said Anglican Bishop Julius Kalu of Mombasa. “We want to live in peace. The government should take control.”

The Rev. Peter Kariuki, a Roman Catholic priest, added that the lack of a resolution may have unintended consequences.

“The Muslims may start feeling one faith is targeted and retaliate on Christians,” he said.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:50:00 MSTIvanka Trump and other Orthodox Jewish converts to fall under new guidelineshttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668962/Ivanka-Trump-and-other-Orthodox-Jewish-converts-to-fall-under-new-guidelines.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668962/Ivanka-Trump-and-other-Orthodox-Jewish-converts-to-fall-under-new-guidelines.html?pg=all
Ivanka Trump and thousands of other Orthodox converts to Judaism should be automatically recognized as Jewish under a...
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JERUSALEM— Ivanka Trump and thousands of other Orthodox converts to Judaism should be automatically recognized as Jewish under a landmark set of guidelines Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has promised to create.

Israel’s two chief rabbis announced on Wednesday (Dec. 7) that for the first time, they will establish a transparent set of criteria laying out which Orthodox rabbis in the Jewish diaspora have the authority – in their eyes – to perform conversions.

The announcement follows a 2015 Jerusalem court petition by the advocacy group ITIM, which has long demanded that the rabbinate — the authority on all Jewish matters in Israel — release its list of approved rabbis and publicly share its vetting process.

For more than a decade the rabbinate has challenged the validity of many conversions performed by American Orthodox rabbis, including some carried out by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the rabbi who converted Trump.

Trump’s conversion hasn’t been subjected to the rabbinate’s scrutiny because she has not sought its stamp of approval.

The rabbinate’s questioning of diaspora rabbis’ credentials has forced a wedge with Orthodox Jews in the diaspora, who assert the rabbinate, an Israeli government institution, has no authority over their rabbis and institutions.

Rabbi Seth Farber, founder of ITIM, expressed both hope and skepticism, noting that the rabbinate made a similar promise exactly one year ago in response to ITIM’s court petition. The rabbinate shared an incomplete list with ITIM in April.

“On the one hand this announcement is an enormous victory because this is the first time in this 11-year battle that the rabbinate acknowledged their behavior has been incredibly destructive to people’s lives and in need of serious reform.”

If the rabbinate fails to deliver on its promises, “we will continue to pursue legal action, this time in the High Court,” Farber said.

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said the reform “is expected to stop the suffering of many converts who have been through a conversion abroad when they come to register for marriage and divorce in Israel.”

From now on, he said, every conversion approved by a rabbi on the rabbinate’s list will be automatically approved.

For example, Yosef added, the conversion of Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the president-elect of the United States, would be legitimized without the need for further checking.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:20:00 MSTGlenn Beck celebrates role as a family man in new ABC News interviewhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668961/Glenn-Beck-celebrates-role-as-a-family-man-in-new-ABC-News-interview.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668961/Glenn-Beck-celebrates-role-as-a-family-man-in-new-ABC-News-interview.html?pg=all
In an interview with ABC News Nightline this week, Beck spoke candidly about his role as a healer and his rise to fame.
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Glenn Beck never thought he’d be the family man he is today.

Beck said he felt he didn’t know how to define himself in the past, and that he sometimes “struggles really hard a lot of the time trying to figure out how to be a more responsible person.”

He said he recognizes that he alienated parts of America with his criticisms toward liberals and President Barack Obama. Now, he said he wants to help bridge the divide.

Byron Pitts asked Beck, “So Glenn Beck, the man who has been called a clown, a bigot, a carnival barker, a smug know-it-all, now you want to be a healer?”

“No you’re making this too grand,” Beck responded.

But indeed, that’s what Beck has looked to do. It’s certainly a change of pace for the media superstar, who struggled growing up because of a number of hardships.

Beck’s journey to where he is now has not been void of hardship. As the Deseret News wrote back in 2007, Beck’s hardships began when he was a child, as his mother committed suicide when he was 13, drowning herself near Tacoma. Not long after, one of Beck’s brothers also committed suicide, while a second brother died at a young age from a heart attack, according to the Deseret News.

Beck also suffered from attention deficit disorder and he’s had “a boiling pot of anger, fear, insecurity and ego all mixed together,” the Deseret News reported.

In response, Beck turned to alcohol and drug use to calm his nerves and ease the struggle. He would drink a gallon of Jack Daniels in a week, he said. He called himself a “monster” and “scumbag.”

"I was taking drugs every day of my life since I was 16 years old," he said, according to Deseret News. "I was a self-hating egomaniac. I thought I was not smart enough or talented enough. I thought I was destined to repeat my mother's life. I was a fraud and I was successful. I was a cutup in class, but the teacher liked me. I was the one you didn't want to go out with your daughter but you didn't know it."

The alcohol struggle eventually forced him to lose his family because of divorce. He sought some religious help, and that’s when he met his current wife Tania, in 1998. He briefly succumbed to alcohol again before quitting completely.

He’s spoken about that conversation for years now on different radio shows, expressing how “hopeless” he was before he went under his “biggest chance” when joining the LDS church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L42Zodk0WsU

And after spending so much time in the media spotlight, Beck now rests with his family. The Nightline video showed Beck praying with his family, having settled down away from the entertainment and media industry.

He was as surprised as anyone that he made it to this point.

“I don’t think I would have guessed 15 years ago that I would be surrounded by my family,” Beck said following a evening prayer during dinner. “That is a dream come true. We have made a point in my family in the last 15 years to break a few cycles of generational cycles and this is a dream come true.”

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:05:00 MSTReligion reading list: holiday editionhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668960/Religion-reading-list-holiday-edition.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668960/Religion-reading-list-holiday-edition.html?pg=all
Winter isn&#8217;t &#8220;coming,&#8221; it&#8217;s already here. With it comes the hope &#8212; if not the time &#8212; to...
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Winter isn’t “coming,” it’s already here. With it comes the hope — if not the time — to curl up under the covers or by the fire and read a good book. Here are seven titles you won’t find on the religion shelf at the bookstore or library, but that nonetheless use religion and spirituality themes to propel the story.

Fiction

“Judas” by Amos Oz (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

This novel by the Israeli writer is not a work of historical fiction — it is set in 1960 Jerusalem — and isn’t really about Judas. Instead, Oz rethinks and reframes the Judas-Jesus story throughout the book, raising more questions than he can answer: What was Judas’ motivation? What did he feel after the crucifixion? Why is he alone, among the disciples, remembered as a Jew? Under all of this is an exploration of the nature of betrayal and love.

Faith factor: Oz, who is Jewish, told The New York Times he has always been fascinated by the New Testament and “infuriated” at its treatment of Judas for its “inconsistencies.” The book is his attempt to pose an alternate motivation and ending for the most infamous traitor in history. The book contains a chapter described as “harrowing” by reviewers in which Oz reimagined the crucifixion from Judas’ point of view.

Excerpt: From “Judas.”

“Here I Am” by Jonathan Safran Foer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

This novel spans one month in the life of four generations of a Washington, D.C., Jewish family as they face issues both at home and abroad — an extramarital affair, a bar mitzvah, an earthquake in Israel.

Faith factor: The title is what Abraham said to God when asked to sacrifice Isaac. Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Daniel Menaker said, “either explicitly or by implication almost every aspect of the novel passes through the prism of Judaism or at least Jewish culture and assumes that the faith is paradigmatic of our relationship to God and the universe.”

Excerpt: “Get Back to Happiness”

“Conclave” by Robert Harris (Knopf)

After all that seriousness about Judas and Jewish identity, here’s a potboiler of a thriller set against the cutthroat (maybe even literally!) selection of a new pope. Harris, who has tuned his writerly attention on ancient Rome with his Cicero trilogy, sums it all up in the unofficial subtitle: “The power of God, the ambition of men.”

Faith factor: Vatican, pope, Catholicism. And an ending one reviewer called “so provocatively scandalous this could become a Catholic version of ‘The Satanic Verses.'”

Lambert, a professor of theology and medieval history, makes the leap from academic to popular history with this book that argues “crusade and jihad were twins and the one reacted on the other.” Critics have lauded the book for its approachable style and Kirkus Review said it is “an all-encompassing introduction to the Christian-Islamic struggle for the armchair history buff.

Faith factor: The book shows how the history of jihad and that of the Crusades stem from similar historical, economic and political factors. One reviewer recommended it as a means of advancing interfaith understanding.

Excerpt: “Origins of Islam”

“Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age” by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh (Simon and Schuster)

This memoir by the founder of the website MuslimGirl.com is an examination of the generation of Muslim American children who grew up in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks. Al-Khatahtbeh was a New Jersey fourth-grader when the World Trade Center towers fell. Watching on the television at home, her father turned prophet when he said, “This is a horrible thing that happened. And they’re going to blame us. And it’s going to get much worse.” Writing in The New York Times, Rafia Zakaria described the book as “an account that should both enlighten and shame Americans who read it.”

Faith factor: Al-Khatahtbeh charts how she and other Muslims maintain their dignity and their place as Americans even as she calls out the limits of trying to define an entire religion or people. “One Muslim woman’s story is taken to represent Muslim women like a monolith, like an absolute truth that exists for all of us,” she writes. ” The truth is that Muslim women come from literally every walk of life, and being fully aware of our own Western privilege, we cannot possibly attempt to speak on their behalf.”

Reece, an environmental journalist, tours the sites of American utopias — Pleasant Hill, New Harmony, Modern Times and more — examining their histories and eventual downfalls. Publishers Weekly called the book “an engaging exploration — and example — of the fruitful tunnel-visions of dreamers turned doers” (and described Reece’s idea of utopia as a solar-powered organic farm).

Faith factor: Many of these utopias were founded around American-born religious, spiritual or philosophical sects, such as the Shakers, the Transcendentalists and the Oneidans. Reece is well-steeped in this history, as he chronicled in his 2009 memoir, “An American Gospel: On Family, History and the Kingdom of God.”

Excerpt: From the introduction.

“The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature” by Adam Kirsch (W.W. Norton)

Adam Kirsh, a literary critic, looks at the history of the Jewish people (and, by extension, all peoples) through Jewish literature from the Bible to Sholom Aleichem. That means Kirsch treats the Book of Exodus as seriously as he does the short story “Tevye the Dairyman,” the basis for “Fiddler on the Roof.” Kirkus Reviews described it as “a fascinating, impeccably written, personal tour of the great books of Judaism.”

Faith factor: Besides the obvious link to Judaism, Kirsh organizes his survey of the literature into four categories: God, the Torah, the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. Hard to get more faithy than that.

Excerpt: Meet Gluckel of Hameln, Jewish storyteller.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:50:00 MSTMormon Mentions: Jimmer Fredette, David Archuleta share Christmas themed messageshttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668956/Mormon-Mentions-Jimmer-Fredette-David-Archuleta-share-Christmas-themed-messages.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668956/Mormon-Mentions-Jimmer-Fredette-David-Archuleta-share-Christmas-themed-messages.html?pg=all
Social media posts with a connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members last week included...
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Social media posts with a connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members last week included posts from LDS athletes, musicians and general authorities. Many of the posts were a response to the LDS Church's #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative.

Former BYU basketball player, Jimmer Fredette posted a scripture to his Instagram account.

The Facebook account of Elder Quentin L Cook posted a picture and story about a senior missionary hurt in the bombing at the Brussels, Belgium, airport.

https://www.facebook.com/lds.quentin.l.cook/posts/1169624356408638

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:35:00 MSTThe LDS Church and the growing Mormon Studies fieldhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668926/The-LDS-Church-and-the-growing-Mormon-Studies-field.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668926/The-LDS-Church-and-the-growing-Mormon-Studies-field.html?pg=all
Elder Marlin K. Jensen, the former LDS Church historian/recorder and an emeritus church General Authority Seventy joined a...
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An operation for a bleeding ulcer topped Elder Marlin K. Jensen's to-do list when his tenure as the LDS Church historian/recorder ended in 2012.

He offered his ulcer as metaphor for the growing pains of the past 30 or 40 years in the telling of Mormon history during a panel discussion on Thursday night on "The LDS Church and the Academic Study of Mormonism."

"We've learned we're much better off to be friends with the academy rather than enemies," said Elder Jensen, an emeritus General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The panel discussion drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 to a hall in the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. It was the last of four discussions hosted by Brian Birch, the first Marlin K. Jensen Scholar in Residence for Mormon Studies. Birch is a Utah Valley University professor teaching a course at the U. this semester titled, "The Intellectual Life of Mormonism."

The panelists agreed that a formerly insular church that once viewed the outside study of its history with suspicion now openly welcomes Mormon Studies programs at universities around the nation, but Elder Jensen and others said it came with a price for many church historians.

"When I was a young student there was considerable angst about church history," said BYU history professor Grant Underwood, a former co-chairman of Mormon Studies Group in the American Academy of Religion. "We have tremendous examples of the most rigorous kind of faithful scholarship and examples of painful tensions over anti-intellectualism."

Birch said the church's expanding transparency about its history makes it a fascinating time to consider its scriptural mandate to learn by study and by faith. He pointed out that many of the texts cited in the church's own recently published scholarly Gospel Topics essays on doctrine and history were exactly those previously viewed with suspicion.

The panelists cited the Information Age as one obvious reason for the evolution.

"There was no way on earth that the Church History Department could be anything but transparent," Elder Jensen said, "and it began to look at the vast holdings it has and their value in the marketplace of ideas."

The internet wasn't the only impetus, however. Underwood described a turn-of-the century meeting for principals of the Joseph Smith Papers Project where Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made presentations that illustrate the elusive blend of faith and reason.

Elder Oaks said that the many planned volumes of the project wouldn't be worth doing if they weren't credible to scholars outside the church. Elder Packer then said they wouldn't be worth doing if they weren't accessible to church members.

Projects like the Gospel Topics essays and the Joseph Smith Papers have put the Church History Department at the forefront of the effort. Through those projects, department members have regularly considered how their work could model faithful scholarship, said Lisa Tait, an award-winning author and historian at the LDS Church History Library.

"We have talked about the idea of embracing scholarship, embracing the perspectives, the methods and techniques and strategies and sources and knowledge that are out there, and how can we model encountering and evaluating and working with those sources in a way that will help members of the church to maybe develop more sophisticated, more complex encounters and orientation with those."

Tait said the Church History Department could be at the epicenter, a place where the embrace, navigation and negotiation with the academy has played out on the front lines.

"Can the embrace of scholarly norms and standards be expanded to inform the other channels in the institution?" she asked. "What would it look like to have Ph.D.'s in the curriculum department? To me that's one of the real tests about whether and how Mormonism forms its relationship to the secular academy."

The Information Age has its blessings and curses, and the curses work against real understanding of complex issues, said J. Spencer Fluhman, director of the Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University and co-chair of the Mormon Studies Group in the American Academy of Religion.

"It's how short everyone wants the explanations," he said. "The hunger for the Twitter response is subverting the skills that I bring to the table as a trained academic historian. While I can cheer on every move toward candor and full disclosure, it's getting harder and harder to actually get at meaning because the appetite for sustained argument is evaporating."

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:01:00 MSTGuest soloist and narrator evokes Christmas energy and compassion in performance with choir, orchestrahttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668933/Guest-soloist-and-narrator-evokes-Christmas-energy-and-compassion-in-performance-with-choir.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668933/Guest-soloist-and-narrator-evokes-Christmas-energy-and-compassion-in-performance-with-choir.html?pg=all
Acclaimed operatic tenor and European TV star Rolando Villaz&#211;n appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra...
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When internationally acclaimed operatic tenor Rolando Villazón was a boy growing up in Mexico, Christmas was his favorite time of year, not just for the presents, food, family togetherness and singing.

“The most important above all was this beautiful energy that I suddenly felt,” he told the audience Dec. 8 at the opening performance of this year’s Christmas concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. “Everybody I knew felt more gentle, more genuine, more full of compassion. It was a very wonderful and warm sensation that gave me hope as a little child when I was looking at that and saying, ‘That’s the world I would like to live in, with this kind of people.”

Mr. Villazón, who now makes his home in France, where he hosts his own television show seen in France and Germany, filled the role of both vocal soloist and narrator for this year’s concert.

As such, a highlight of the program was his reading of Hans Christian Andersen’s bittersweet tale “The Little Match Girl.”

“It captures the importance of compassion, humanity, hope and love,” he said. “It reminds us there are people out there alone. There are people out there that don’t have shelter, that need our warmth, our breadth, and sometimes just to say, ‘You are there, I am here, and we are both human beings.’”

With the choir and orchestra then providing background music, he gave the reading as a costumed actress portrayed the girl caught out in winter’s bitterness. Ghostly images of her Christmas imaginings were projected on a screen above her as she struck match after match.

Another highlight in the concert was as surprise that the guest artist had in store for his largely LDS audience.

Some years ago, he said, he was singing a new production of the Offenbach operas “Tales of Hoffmann” in Munich, Germany. There, he encountered a young mezzo-soprano, “a very talented, wonderful singer and artist, a very gentle and wonderful person.”

They became good friends.

“She happens to be a member of the Church,” he said, “so I was very interested to listen to what she had to tell me, all about the Church and its philosophy and the spirit of it.”

He said she started her career singing in her ward choir in Phoenix, Arizona, then “grew up to be a wonderful soloist. She is currently having an amazing career. She has toured the world and appeared in the best opera houses.

“She told me, ‘I remember watching those wonderful concerts with the Tabernacle Choir, and I used to dream one day I would sing with them.’ So when I was invited to sing here I thought, ‘We need to make this dream come true.’”

The artist is Angela Brower. Mr. Villazón invited her on stage, where she sang the French carol “Il est né, le divin Enfant” and together they performed a medley of American Christmas favorites.

Both artists are Grammy Award nominees for 2017 in the category of “Best Opera Recording” for their work on an album of Mozart music, “Le nozze di Figaro.” The same album includes Sonya Yoncheva, also nominated for a Grammy for that album. She and Villazon were both soloists on the choir and orchestra’s recent release of Handel’s “Messiah.”

Puppetry set a whimsical tone for the concert during an opening processional as children and youth came down the aisles of the LDS Conference Center bearing giant figures of a camel and a donkey.

Mr. Villazón then performed “Deck the Hall,” followed by the Spanish carol “Cancion para la Navidad.

The choir’s classical virtuosity was showcased in a set of “Three Alleluias,” one each by Handel, Caccini and Ginastera, contrasting in flavor with the first being animated, the second subdued and the third ethereal.

The orchestra was featured on a “Miniature Overture” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” and on “Parde of the Wooden Soliders, augmented by child, youth and adult dancers dressed in 19th century garb.

Frequent viewers each year of the Christmas concerts of the choir and orchestra have come to expect some sort of artistic tomfoolery on the Conference Center pipe organ by Richard Elliott, generally his own playful arrangement of some Christmas classic.

This year, he was joined by fellow Mormon Tabernacle organists Clay Christiansen and Andrew Unsworth, perhaps the first time that six hands have played the Conference Center’s organ console at the same time.

In addition to the music, they performed something of a Chinese fire drill a time or two, switching places literally without missing a beat, as they played their variation on “We Three Kings,” laced with essences from an organ toccata and “Hall of the Mountain King.”

As usual in these concerts, the organ segment brought a standing ovation.

In keeping with tradition, the concert climaxed with Mr. Villazón’s reading of the account of the birth of Christ in Luke, followed by the finale with all performers joining together in the majestic French carol, “Angels from the Realms of Glory.”

In cooperation with BYU TV, the concert is being recorded for presentation over PBS members stations, in keeping with past practice. Audio and DVD releases of each year’s concert are typically produced for sale the during the following Christmas season.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 08:42:00 MSTCarmen Rasmusen Herbert: My experiences with the 'Light the World' challengehttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668904/Carmen-Rasmusen-Herbert-My-experiences-with-the-Light-the-World-challenge.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668904/Carmen-Rasmusen-Herbert-My-experiences-with-the-Light-the-World-challenge.html?pg=all
Looking back at the very specific blessings the Lord has given me at pivotal times in my life, I am so grateful that all...
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Our family has been participating in the “Light the World” Christmas advent challenge from Mormon.org. We have enjoyed discovering very doable ways we can share the light of Jesus Christ with the world every day this holiday season.

I walked down the hall and breathed a long, deep breath of relief and welcome silence. Then I entered my baby’s room to rock him to sleep. (Yes, he’s 19 months and still needs to be rocked to sleep. Advice would be appreciated. Crying doesn’t work. We’ve both cried ourselves to sleep too many nights to count.)

As I rocked back and forth and hummed my usual “A Child’s Prayer” lullaby, I browsed through the other suggestions on Mormon.org for reading and sharing the scriptures. One suggestion in particular stood out to me.

“Find three scriptures that represent you. Share them with someone close to you.”

I have always heard about relating scriptures to my life, but finding passages of scripture that I felt represented who I was intrigued me. I began my search.

I wanted to find a scripture that described the joy and desire I feel to live the gospel with my whole heart and found a beautiful passage in 2 Nephi 4:16, which reads: “Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord.”

I have had the opportunity to experience many places in this world. From all over this beautiful state of Utah to the exciting diversity of New York City and almost everywhere in between; from Canada, the place where I was born and where my father was raised, to London, Puerto Rico and Africa.

I have met many types of people and learned about many cultures and religions. I have seen how people live their lives with and without the gospel in different areas of the world, and no experience or opportunity can touch or compare to the joy and peace that I have when I am striving to live my life the way the Lord has shown me how.

There is a clear and obvious difference in my life and in the lives of others when the Holy Ghost is welcomed as a constant companion. Delighting in the things of the Lord for me include worshipping him, making my home an extension of the temple so that my children, husband and I can always remember him, and praying for guidance for how to live my life so I can eventually return to live with him.

Another scripture that I feel represents the desires of my heart is Doctrine and Covenants 11:8: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so it shall be done unto you; and, if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.”

When I first tried out for "American Idol" 13 years ago, I was a young 17-year-old with stars in my eyes. I wanted all the fame and fortune that came along with that stardom.

My angel mother gently brought me back down to earth when she said, “I think you are meant to do this, but I think you are meant to do this not for yourself but to help bless the lives of others — to be an example.”

I didn’t ever reach that level of “famous” that some of my fellow "American Idol" contestants have — and for that I am very grateful. I was given many opportunities because of that experience to share a little about my beliefs with thousands of people, both onscreen and offscreen. I hope I can continue to do good and share the good news of the gospel all my life.

Finally, because singing has been such a huge part of my life and because I would not ever have known what joy music could bring without praying for guidance on how to best use my talents, I chose Doctrine and Covenants 25:12: “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.”

My blessings have come in so many ways, much of which I could not have imagined or perhaps even initially chose for myself. But now looking back at the very specific blessings the Lord has given me at pivotal times in my life, I am so grateful that all those days and nights of prayer and pleading — sometimes crying, sometimes singing — have led me to where I am today.

If you want to follow along with the "Light the World" challenge, visit Mormon.org.

Carmen Rasmusen Herbert is a former "American Idol" contestant who writes about entertainment and family for the Deseret News. Her email is carmen.r.herbert@gmail.com.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2016 05:00:00 MSTAfter 40 years of women rabbis, a Q&A with the firsthttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668881/After-40-years-of-women-rabbis-a-QA-with-the-first.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668881/After-40-years-of-women-rabbis-a-QA-with-the-first.html?pg=all
Sally Priesand was a 16-year-old Cleveland girl in 1963 when she wrote to the Reform Jewish movement&#8217;s flagship...
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Sally Priesand was a 16-year-old Cleveland girl in 1963 when she wrote to the Reform Jewish movement’s flagship seminary and said she wanted to be a rabbi.

Hebrew Union College accepted her as the only woman in a class of 36, and in June 1972, Priesand became the first woman in history to be ordained by a rabbinic school. Today, all but Judaism’s Orthodox movement accept women rabbis, and non-Orthodox rabbinic schools typically enroll about as many women as men.

To mark more than 40 years of women in the rabbinate, the Central Conference of American Rabbis recently published “The Sacred Calling,” a collection of essays by women rabbis that cover everything from Priesand’s ordination to the depiction of female rabbis on television.

RNS asked Priesand, now 70 and retired for a decade, to talk about her ordination, her 25 years as the rabbi at New Jersey’s Monmouth Reform Temple and why she insisted on wearing miniskirts.

You say it was a “quirk” that you were the first woman ordained as a rabbi. Why “quirk”?

When I went to seminary there was one other woman in the program, and had she stayed, she would have been ordained before me. I didn’t really think very much about being the first. I didn’t do it to champion women’s rights. I just wanted to be a rabbi.

And I was in the right place at the right time. Dr. Nelson Glueck, the then-HUC president, wanted to ordain a woman. I was right on the cusp of the feminist movement. People were thinking of new roles for women.

How much sexism did you encounter at seminary and after ordination?

When I first came nobody really believed that I was going to finish. They thought I would marry a rabbi rather than be one. The professors were not really used to having a woman in class. They would always address the class as “gentlemen” and then they’d look at me and say “and lady.”

After four years of undergraduate school at Hebrew Union College I had enough credits to skip the first year of rabbinic school. So one day I was an undergraduate there and the next day I was in the second year of rabbinic school there, and everybody kind of woke up and said, “Oy, she’s still here!”

After I was ordained, some congregations wanted me for my publicity value and some congregations didn’t want me at all, and they made that very clear. In the end I got the best job, going to Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City. I only got that because the position opened up late and everybody else had a job. I always say “coincidence is God’s way of being anonymous.”

You wore miniskirts in your early days as a rabbi. Were you trying to send a message?

The only message I was trying to send was “be yourself.” Miniskirts were very common then, and I had very long hair, down to my waist. I heard a lot of complaints.

Is there anything about your girlhood that might have predicted your ordination?

My family was not particularly observant but we did light Shabbat candles, have a Hanukkah celebration and a big Passover seder. And we belonged to a synagogue and went to services. The thing I liked most, which is probably the thing I still like most, is services.

I went to Jewish summer camp in Zionsville, Indiana. If you look back at my scrapbook from then, you can tell the campers and the counselors were well aware that I wanted to be a rabbi. I was fortunate because my synagogue allowed me during the summers to write articles for the bulletin and conduct services sometimes, and I tutored kids in Hebrew. I was very involved in Jewish life.

You thought you would be a married rabbi with children. Then you decided not to marry or have children. What made you change your mind?

The plan was to get married, to have children and to have a nursery next to my study in the synagogue. And everything was going to be great. But I knew myself well enough to come to understand that I could simply not have a career and a family at the same time and do both well. That doesn’t mean other women can’t do it.

The demands of family and the rabbinate are why, I think, you don’t see women as senior rabbis in congregations until they’re a little bit older. They’ve made other kinds of choices, which is fine. I certainly made my choice, and it was the right choice for me. I feel that all the children who grew up in Monmouth Reform Temple — they’re my children too.

Yet you were criticized in rabbinical school as “a true feminist.”

I wasn’t out giving speeches and marching and all of that. In my view you have to have women do that, but you also have to have women accomplish the goal and be the role model. So I tried to be the role model and be the rabbi. A feminist is a person who believes that every person, woman or man, should be allowed to develop their God-given potential.

Even though you didn’t want to be a pioneer, how did you assume the mantle?

It took me awhile to become conscious of being “a first.” After five years at Hebrew Union College, when it was time to find a student pulpit, the media found out about me and started to follow me around. And I’m a very private person. That’s the paradox of my personality, that I had to become so public. That was a difficult thing for me. Even ABC News did a documentary and followed me to class.

As a rabbi, you say one of the most important things you teach is for Jews to be responsible for their own Jewishness. What do you mean by that?

Rabbis are teachers and facilitators. They’re not meant to be surrogate Jews for the congregation. I teach that we should take one new mitzvah (acts required of Jews) at a time. I would make certain that I as the teacher would set the example.

One year I said I decided that during the holiday of Sukkot, I would eat dinner each night in the temple’s sukkah. And I invited everyone to pack a picnic basket and come and eat with me. That became a real tradition at our synagogue. Not only did we fulfill the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah, but we got to just sit and casually get to know each other. I loved that. After a few years so many people would come that the synagogue’s brotherhood surprised me and built a larger sukkah.

I’ve been retired for 10 years and even today people come up to me and say: “One mitzvah at a time,” and they tell me how it has changed their lives. They started lighting Shabbat candles, or they started coming to services on Friday night.

What’s going to happen to women ordained in the Orthodox Jewish tradition given that movement’s refusal to recognize them? Or only accept them if they agree to titles other than “rabbi”?

It’s all going to work out. They’ve ordained almost about 15, I think, and they all have jobs someplace. I can see the Orthodox women are going through the same problems I went through, and I think it’s important to support them.

You’d like more people to know about Regina Jonas, who was privately ordained in Nazi Germany in 1935. What should we know about this first woman to be called “rabbi”?

Her mentor died the year before she was to be ordained, and the seminary wouldn’t ordain her. So Rabbi Max Dienemann, head of the Liberal Rabbis Association of Offenbach, ordained her privately. At first she was only allowed to serve in homes for the elderly and schools. But as male rabbis began to emigrate or be deported, then they would turn to her and she developed a reputation for preaching.

In 1944 she was sent to Auschwitz, where we believe she died the day she arrived.

That day happened to be Shabbat Beresheit (the Sabbath when the first chapter of the Hebrew Bible is read). I am part of a campaign to get synagogues of all denominations, all over the world, to remember Regina Jonas on Shabbat Beresheit.

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 15:45:00 MSTVatican exhibits Rembrandt in gesture of Christian unityhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668880/Vatican-exhibits-Rembrandt-in-gesture-of-Christian-unity.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668880/Vatican-exhibits-Rembrandt-in-gesture-of-Christian-unity.html?pg=all
Visitors expect to see the works of Renaissance artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo in the Vatican Museums, but they may...
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VATICAN CITY— Visitors expect to see the works of Renaissance artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo in the Vatican Museums, but they may be surprised to find the paintings of Rembrandt, a master more associated with Protestant Europe.

A new exhibit of the Dutch artist’s works is a first for the museums, which attract millions to see their treasures each year.

Titled “Rembrandt in the Vatican: Images Between Heaven and Earth,” the show includes 53 artworks from the Zorn Museum in Sweden and the Kremer Collection in the Netherlands.

Organized by the Vatican body responsible for promoting Christian unity and by the Swedish and Dutch embassies, the exhibit opened after Pope Francis’ October visit to Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said he hopes the exhibition can “strengthen mutual love between Catholics and Lutherans and their commitment to the quest for unity.”

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) is considered an artistic genius because of his mastery of light in both painting and printmaking. The works now on show at the Vatican Museums include many with a religious theme, and which take their inspiration from the Bible.

In his lifetime, the Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517, had spread to the northern Netherlands, where he lived.

Some of his best-known works are biblical scenes such as “The Raising of the Cross” and “Adam and Eve.”

As the son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother, the artist drew on both religions in his work and also addressed the struggles of ordinary people in his work.

“He was exposed to the elementary religious transformations of his era, of growing confessionalism and religious wars in Europe,” Koch said.

“In his paintings he addresses the poverty and helplessness of ordinary people. There is also a shining light to be seen from above that indicates the always stronger divine grace and guidance.”

Arnold Nesselrath, deputy director and curator at the Vatican Museums, also noted the nature of Rembrandt’s unusual religious background.

“Rembrandt is an artist who is rooted in the Protestant as well as the Catholic environment, so he’s an ideal artist,” said Nesselrath. “And of course, he’s an artist of that caliber who can actually transmit these ideas.

“There are his most famous prints, like the one of the ‘100 Florins,’ ‘Christ Healing the Sick’ and the famous ‘Three Crosses.’ These images have a great impact.”

While the exhibit reinforces the pope’s desire to build interfaith relations, Rembrandt’s images also reflect the pontiff’s message of mercy and compassion for the poor.

“Beggars, poor or crippled people appear in the context of particular iconographies like the ‘Return of the Prodigal Son,’ the ‘Healing of the Lame Man at the Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem,’” said Nesselrath. “But Rembrandt makes these people a subject of their own right.”

Alison Brittain, a 21-year-old study-abroad student from Washington state who majored in art, said, “Looking at these, it’s like a whole new world. I feel very lucky.”

In a new document on the priesthood, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy reiterated a 2005 statement declaring that men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” or those who “support the so-called ‘gay culture’” cannot be priests.

“Pope Francis has a lot of explaining to do by approving the newest Vatican instruction,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which campaigns for LGBT rights in the church.

“Francis’ famous ‘Who am I to judge?’ statement in 2013 was made in response to a question about gay men in the priesthood,” DeBernardo said. “That response indicated very plainly that he did not have a problem with a gay priest’s sexual orientation.

“It’s not too late for the pope to retract this document.”

The new document noted that the church’s policy on gay priests has not changed since the last Vatican pronouncement on the subject in 2005.

Many have been hoping for a new approach from the church toward gay priests because of Francis’ statements and the fact that he has gay friends and has spoken against bias toward gays. He has even used the label “gay” rather than the more clinical term “homosexual” that many church officials view as less likely to appear to approve a gay orientation.

“This document is extremely disappointing in its approach to gay men called to be priests,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an organization of Catholics committed to equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

“These guidelines are a tremendous insult to the thousands of gay men who have served and continue to serve the church with honor and dedication,” she said. “They undermine decades of commitment by these men, and they fail to acknowledge that God calls a great variety of people to the priesthood.”

The document, titled “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” was due to be published on Thursday (Dec. 8 ) but was posted online earlier. It covers many aspects of the priesthood, only touching on the subject of sexuality on a few pages toward the end of the lengthy report.

It includes several quotes from Pope Francis and excerpts from the writings of St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The document says that “the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.'”

It says such people are “in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women.”

“One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies.”

In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily newspaper, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, head of the Congregation for the Clergy, said the guidelines for training priests needed to be “revamped” to take into account developments in society and the pope’s concerns about the priesthood.

He said special attention was given to Francis’ concerns about “temptations tied to money, to the authoritarian exercise of power, to rigid legalism and to vainglory” among clerics.

The document also emphasizes the need for dioceses and religious orders to guard against admitting potential sex abusers to the priesthood.

“The greatest attention must be given to the theme of the protection of minors and vulnerable adults,” the document says, “being vigilant lest those who seek admission to a seminary or a house of formation, or who are already petitioning to receive Holy Orders, have not been involved in any way with any crime or problematic behavior in this area.”

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 14:45:00 MSTDavid Archuleta releases new music video for 'My Little Prayer' for #LIGHTtheWORLDhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668882/David-Archuleta-releases-new-music-video-for-My-Little-Prayer-for-LIGHTtheWORLD.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668882/David-Archuleta-releases-new-music-video-for-My-Little-Prayer-for-LIGHTtheWORLD.html?pg=all
David Archuleta released an original song titled &#8220;My Little Prayer&#8221; on Thursday. In the Facebook post and YouTube...
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David Archuleta released an original song titled “My Little Prayer” on Thursday. In the Facebook post and YouTube description, Archuleta shared the inspiration behind the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrPPJCu22ZI

Archuleta shared that the lyrics and chords came to him during a dream after he fell asleep before saying his nightly prayer. Archuleta found himself having a conversation with God in his dream but he remembers the conversation being different because he was singing.

"I could hear simple chords in my dream that I was laying a simple melody and prayer on top of," Archuleta wrote on Facebook. "As I was having this conversation in music with God, He told me to get up and write this down. I thought and said, 'But... I'm sleeping. I'm not sure I know how to get up from a dream!' He told me, 'If you don't get up now, you'll forget it in the morning.' I tried everything I could to wake up, and I did!

"There in the middle of the night I went straight to the piano with the words and melody I had spoken in my dream still clear in my head, and wrote it all down. It was the fastest I had ever written a song because I feel this one was given to me."

Archuleta released “My Little Prayer” in conjunction with the eighth day of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Light the World” initiative. According to mormon.org the theme for the eighth day is, “Jesus Prayed for Others and So Can You.”

The singer wrote that he has performed the song several times this year and after multiple people asking where to find it, he “felt it would be good to share it during this Holiday season.” The music video was filmed on Temple Square.

Pruitt, who is Oklahoma’s attorney general, is a climate-change denier. In the National Review last May, he and co-author Luther Strange wrote, “Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.”

The vast majority of scientists do not disagree that global warming is linked to mankind’s use of fossil fuels. Pruitt heads a coalition of Republican state attorneys general who are suing the EPA and the Obama administration over its climate change initiatives.

The appointment, announced Wednesday (Dec. 7), has environmentalists in full alarm mode.

“Mr. Pruitt has been a consistent critic of regulations that require industries to account for the costs they impose on the environment, often justifying his position based on flawed science,” David Levine, head of the American Sustainable Business Council, said in a statement. “Climate scientists nearly unanimously find the opposite is true. Mr. Pruitt’s selection signals a roll back of policies that have stimulated innovation and progress.”

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, was more blunt. “Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires,” he said in a statement. “He is a climate science denier who, as Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma, regularly conspired with the fossil fuel industry to attack EPA protections.”

Pruitt’s pick intensifies concern among science and education professionals about the impact Trump’s Cabinet picks — many of them evangelical Christians — could have on the environment, the advancement of science and teaching standards.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Dr. Ben Carson, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are both evangelical Christians and known creationists who adhere to the biblically supported belief that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

Pruitt is also an evangelical Christian — he serves as a deacon at First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, Okla., and graduated from Georgetown College, an evangelical school. He has a record of opposing marriage equality, transgender bathroom access and abortion, and opposed a church-state separation ballot initiative on the Oklahoma ballot earlier this year.

Pruitt was also the subject of a 2014 New York Times investigation of a “secretive alliance” between Republican attorneys general and the oil industry.

Writing in Scientific American, Devin Powell quotes science education advocates warning that “the legitimization of such nonscientific views at the highest levels of government could trickle down to local policies.”

He writes that battles over how evolution and climate change should be taught are already being fought in states such as Louisiana and Texas, where there are bills in the state legislatures that would let teachers treat the subjects as controversial.

“Nearly all of this legislation has emerged in states that were won by Trump,” he wrote.

Also of concern is the appointment of Betsy DeVos, another evangelical, to head the Department of Education. DeVos is a champion of school vouchers, a program to send public money to religious or private schools. She and her husband, Dick DeVos, have framed their support for vouchers in terms of “advance(ing) God’s kingdom.”

As a candidate for governor of Indiana, Dick DeVos supported the teaching of “intelligent design,” a religion-based theory that the universe is so complex it must have had an intelligent creator. Intelligent design and creationism garner almost no support from mainstream scientists.

There is also concern over presidential support for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — STEM — curricula. Quincy Brown, program director for STEM education research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, cited President Obama’s 2011 initiative to train 100,000 new STEM teachers.

“These kinds of initiatives motivate the educational community,” Brown told Scientific American. “If messages like that are not coming from the top, I wonder whether there will be a shift in priorities.”

Candidate Trump indicated he would like to see that shift. He repeatedly pledged to end the Common Core State Standards, a set of learning goals for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Though the Obama administration has supported Common Core, it is states, not the federal government, that decide to adopt them.

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 14:15:00 MSTElder D. Todd Christofferson speaks of the Book of Mormon at the Library of Congresshttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668865/Elder-D-Todd-Christofferson-speaks-of-the-Book-of-Mormon-at-the-Library-of-Congress.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668865/Elder-D-Todd-Christofferson-speaks-of-the-Book-of-Mormon-at-the-Library-of-Congress.html?pg=all
The Book of Mormon brings peace and comfort, counsel and guidance, inspiration and encouragement to more than 15 million...
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WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Book of Mormon brings peace and comfort, counsel and guidance, inspiration and encouragement to more than 15 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide, said Elder D. Todd Christofferson at the Library of Congress on Dec. 7.

“The Book of Mormon is invaluable to believers,” he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH3WDzZD8HI

Speaking during the event — which recognized the inclusion of the Book of Mormon in the "America Reads” exhibit at the Library of Congress — Elder Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that beyond its impact on American literature and culture, the Book of Mormon remains “the keystone” of the LDS faith.

Elder Christofferson said since its publication in 1830, the Book of Mormon has garnered much attention, good and bad, with no shortage of epithets.

“Most recently the Book of Mormon has been added to the list of ‘Books that Shaped America’ and listed fourth on the Library of Congress’s 'America Reads' list of most influential books in American history,” he said.

There have been many critics of the book, he explained.

Church members, he added, “believe the first-hand accounts given by Joseph Smith and other eyewitnesses: that the Book of Mormon was literally translated by Joseph Smith from ancient gold plates through the gift and power of God.”

Elder Christofferson said Joseph never explained the precise mechanics of translating of the Book of Mormon and gave only two public statements regarding the process. Most of what is known about the method of translation comes from accounts recorded by scribes and other eyewitnesses, he said. For Latter-day Saints, the translation of the Book of Mormon was a miracle.

“Joseph dictated the entire 250,000-word, 600-page manuscript in some 65 working days between April and June 1829. This was done in a single draft with very few strikeouts or corrections. It is an especially remarkable feat given Joseph's educational background.”

Elder Christofferson said the Church owns most of the 28 percent of the surviving original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, pages of which are publicly displayed in the Church History Museum and the Church History Library in downtown Salt Lake City. There are even plans to publish high-resolution images of the fragments of the original manuscript.

After the translation of the Book of Mormon and before its printing, two groups were shown the golden plates at different times, he explained. The "Testimony of the Three Witnesses" and the "Testimony of the Eight Witnesses" have been printed in every edition of the Book of Mormon since 1830, he added.

“While all three of the Three Witnesses and five of the Eight Witnesses later left the LDS Church for a time, none of them ever denied their sworn statements about seeing the plates,” said Elder Christofferson.

Latter-day Saints look to the Book of Mormon as a companion to the Bible, equal in significance and authority, he said. “The book is written in language similar to the Bible and contains both traditional and unique Christian teachings. It references Jesus Christ 4,000 times by more than 100 different titles. The pinnacle of the Book of Mormon, moreover, recounts the visit and ministry of Jesus Christ to the ancient American inhabitants shortly after His resurrection in the Old World.”

With so much focus on the Savior and His teachings throughout the Book of Mormon, Elder Christofferson said it is no wonder the LDS Church added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" in 1982.

“The Book of Mormon, in short, serves as a critical source of inspiration and guidance for Latter-day Saints with stories and messages applicable to contemporary life,” he said.

However, the Book of Mormon was severely misunderstood when it was first published. “Those critical of Joseph Smith were less concerned with the content of the Book of Mormon than what it represented. The Book of Mormon was seen as a departure from traditional Christianity at the time of publication.”

Elder Christofferson said the Book of Mormon "drove a wedge between the Latter-day Saints and the rest of Protestant America" that defended the Bible as the sole Word of God. From the beginning, those who believed in the Book of Mormon were persecuted.

Even today in the 21st Century, where religious freedom remains the ideal in America, Latter-day Saints still see some of this same sense of intolerance and hostility toward religion, said Elder Christofferson. “Like our pioneer ancestors, we, and other religious communities across the country, continue to receive our share of suspicion and resentment for our beliefs and practices. People are increasingly questioning the value of religion in public life, forgetting that some of our most fundamental moral values, like honesty, integrity, and love and respect for all people are promoted and passed on to the next generation in religious settings.

“Religion is not simply being marginalized; it is under attack.”

“Today, we fight for religious freedom and liberty through civil discourse," said Elder Christofferson. "For our 19th Century ancestors, however, it took a cross-country migration to the Salt Lake Valley beyond the national borders of America to find space and refuge to practice their religion freely.”

Elder Christofferson said it is a miracle to see that what began with 5,000 copies in a small print shop in Palmyra, New York, in 1830 has resulted in millions of copies available in multiple languages around the globe. “As of today, over 176 million copies of the Book of Mormon have been printed since 1830. To date, the Book of Mormon has been translated into 110 languages — 89 full translations with selections of the book in another 21 languages.”

The Book of Mormon has since been digitized and published on LDS.org as well as the Church's mobile applications, he said.

The Book of Mormon has left a lasting legacy on American popular culture, he said. Many critics and apologists “have moved away from debates about the authenticity of the Book of Mormon and have come to appreciate the text for its literary qualities,” he said.

On a personal note, Elder Christofferson said his study of the Book of Mormon has given him an enhanced appreciation of the Bible.

“My own witness of Jesus Christ is rooted in both the Book of Mormon and the Bible,” he said. “It is through an ongoing study of the Book of Mormon that my knowledge and understanding of the Savior continues to expand and deepen.”

Concluding, Elder Christofferson extended an invitation that the Church has put in the playbill for the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.”

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 13:05:00 MSTPakistan&#8217;s &#8216;disco mullah&#8217; feared dead after plane crashhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668861/Pakistan7s-6disco-mullah7-feared-dead-after-plane-crash.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668861/Pakistan7s-6disco-mullah7-feared-dead-after-plane-crash.html?pg=all
Junaid Jamshed, a Pakistani pop-singer-turned-revival-preacher, known as the &#8220;disco mullah,&#8221; was among the...
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Junaid Jamshed, a Pakistani pop-singer-turned-revival-preacher, known as the “disco mullah,” was among the passengers of an aircraft that crashed into a Pakistan hillside, leaving no survivors, a family member confirmed.

The singer and one of his two wives were on a preaching tour in the northern Pakistan city of Chitral, where the plane, Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK-661, originated with 47 people on board. It went down in a hilly area 45 miles north of the capital city of Islamabad about 4:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, Dec. 6.

Jamshed, 52, was a popular singer and recording artist of nasheeds, the vocal-only religious songs of Islam.

He soared to fame in Pakistan and beyond in the 1980s as the frontman of the pop band Vital Signs. The band’s most famous song, “Dil Dil Pakistan,” was a patriotic number released in 1987. The band soared to fame after the fall of strong-arm dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1988.

In 1998, Vital Signs dissolved and Jamshed focused on several solo nasheed albums over the next decade. In 2008, he announced he was dedicating his life to Islam and renounced music to take up preaching.

In 2014, Jamshed was accused of blasphemy when remarks he made about the Prophet Muhammad’s youngest wife upset members of Sunni Tehreek, a Sunni sect. The singer apologized, but his evangelical Sunni group, Tableeghi Jamaat, distanced itself from him.

Jamshed never intended to pursue a music career, friends said. He was studying engineering when a chance encounter at a concert brought him in contact with the existing members of Vital Signs, which he then joined. He also served in the Pakistani air force, where poor eyesight — he needed glasses — cut his career short.

Jamshed’s fans were legion, far beyond the borders of Pakistan. Many of them took to social media to express their grief.

Kimberly Winston is a freelance religion reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She covers atheism and freethought for RNS.

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 12:55:00 MSTRachel Nielson: What a trip to Africa taught me about motherhoodhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668806/Rachel-Nielson-What-a-trip-to-Africa-taught-me-about-motherhood.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668806/Rachel-Nielson-What-a-trip-to-Africa-taught-me-about-motherhood.html?pg=all
The first time that I saw Gogo, I was standing with my back against a crude brick wall, leaning into a pocket of shade under...
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The first time that I saw Gogo, I was standing with my back against a crude brick wall, leaning into a pocket of shade under the hot African sun.

I heard her before I saw her. “Oh, thank you, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!” she was calling. And when she came around the corner, her wrinkled hands were clasped, her face tilted up toward heaven in praise.

She was wearing a navy stocking cap, a brown sweater and long skirt — and she reached out to each of us American visitors as if we were her family, squeezing our hands and whispering her thanks to God that we had come.

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

“Gogo” means Granny in Setswana, and, truly, this woman is a grandmother to everyone she meets. Her heart is full of love, spirit and nurturing — in essence, motherhood. Being near her, I thought, “This is why I came to Africa. I came here to meet Gogo.”

When I decided to go on an advocacy trip to South Africa, I was searching for a deeper understanding of motherhood. I couldn’t have put it into those words at the time — but now that I’m home, I can see more clearly what I was yearning for before I left.

I have always loved connecting with people in deep ways. I worked as a camp counselor for kids with disabilities in high school, spent a semester volunteering at an orphanage in El Salvador in college, and taught high school English for five years in my young adulthood.

Photo credit: Molly Hunter

And then, in 2011, my son Noah was born, and my life as a stay-at-home mother began.

After all of my experience with children, teaching and service, I thought that the transition to motherhood would be easy. Famous last words, right?

I knew that it was a blessing to be able to stay home with Noah, but after years of connecting with people on a deep level, I felt lonely and unfulfilled much of the time. My baby cried a lot; my husband was in dental residency and we lived in a crummy apartment near the hospital without many other young moms around; and I missed getting to laugh with and learn from my students and colleagues every day.

I felt a bit trapped — not so much by my circumstances as by the dichotomy in my heart: I knew that my job as a mother was the most impactful role I would ever have, and yet I yearned for more.

Five years have passed, and we have since added another baby to our family, a spunky little girl named Sally. I have settled into my role as a mother much more, and I genuinely love spending time with my little ones while also writing for Power of Moms, teaching the teenage girls at church, and reaching out to friends and family as much as I can.

Photo credit: Molly Landon

My life is so good and so full. And yet at times I still feel that pull in my heart — the desire to learn more, impact more, give more.

I decided to apply to go to South Africa because I knew that I would meet people like Gogo. I knew I would gain new perspective and come home with more clarity, peace, purpose and drive.

I wish I could write a book about the incredible mothers that I met when I was there — because that’s what it would take, a book. Meeting these mothers, hearing their stories and witnessing the unique and powerful contributions that they are making within their spheres of influence it filled my soul.

I realized that what I am doing in my home with my children matters. My heart ached when I saw children who do not have loving parents to care for them. I saw the sadness in their eyes, and I heard from their caregivers about the ways that their mental and emotional development are affected. It made me want to be a better, more invested mother.

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

It also made me want to do hard things — to make sacrifices to extend my love beyond my own family to others who need “mothering.” I realized that I can involve my own children in this work. I can teach them to see a need in our community and the world and do something about it.

Granny Gogo was one of the best examples of this. While raising her kids, she worked at a soup kitchen and started several preschools for vulnerable children in her community. In recent years, her grown daughter Elizabeth has followed in her mother’s footsteps and started a “drop-in centre” out of Gogo’s humble home for children who don't have anywhere to go while their mothers work long hours in the city. It started with 18 children, and it has now grown to 180.

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

What began in Gogo’s tiny house has expanded. They’ve been able to receive government funding, build a small preschool next door and hire a staff of dedicated teachers and caregivers. Vulnerable kids from the community come to Gogo’s house every morning to receive a bowl of vitamin-fortified porridge, and then they come after school to receive a snack, help with homework and give instruction in singing and sports. It’s like a Boys and Girls Club — Africa style.

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

It has become a family affair, with Gogo as the loving matriarch, Elizabeth as the powerhouse director and Elizabeth’s sons as administrators and cooks. Three generations of givers.

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

Truly, this family heroically and whole-heartedly embodies the old proverb "it takes a village" to raise a child.

After spending a day at the “drop-in centre” — witnessing the hope in the children’s eyes, hearing their singing and joyful laughter — my American friends and I gathered around Gogo as she sat in a lawn chair in the shade, reading her Bible. She hugged each of us and took us by the hands, looking into our faces and thanking us for coming. I will never forget the feeling of her wrinkled hands, leathery from a lifetime of loving and serving. With tears in her eyes, she read scripture to us and then said simply, “I cry because I am rich.”

Photo credit: Shultz Photo School

Since coming home, I have felt a deep desire to continue helping in South Africa through fundraising efforts for the amazing projects there. So this week at Power of Moms we are hosting "It Takes a Village," a fundraiser to finish a community center in Maubane, South Africa. This will give children a safe place to go — much like Gogo and Elizabeth's facility — while their mothers are at work in the city, hours away. Visit powerofmoms/africa if you are interested in learning more about how you can help.

I am grateful to have been a part of a trip that opened my heart to the everlasting impact that moms can have on communities. I came home with a deep desire to “be a Gogo” — to reach out to and mother children — my own, as well as others — because it really does take a village to raise, teach and protect children.

This article is courtesy of Power of Moms, an online gathering place for deliberate mothers.

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 12:45:00 MSTChoir Christmas concert artist meets the presshttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668856/Choir-Christmas-concert-artist-meets-the-press.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668856/Choir-Christmas-concert-artist-meets-the-press.html?pg=all
Rolando Villaz&#211;n, guest artist expresses admiration for choir and orchestra prior to annual Chritmas concert.
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Note: This is a report of a news conference preceding this year’s Christmas concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. A report of the concert itself will appear in the next print edition of the Church News.

While Rolando Villazón was recording his solo parts for the recent release of Handel’s Messiah by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, music director Mack Wilberg realized, “We have to bring Rolando to Salt Lake City, and the very best way of doing that would be to invite him to be part of our Christmas concert.”

Thus it was that the world-renowned operatic tenor, who makes his home in France but was born near Mexico City, became this year’s guest artist for the annual concert by the choir and orchestra.

And thus it was that the tenor had a residual affection for the singers and musicians when he arrived to rehearse with them in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

“It only took him about five minutes with the choir and orchestra to get them wrapped around his finger,” choir President Ron Jarrett said. “They totally love him and have accepted him as part of the choir. He is a wonderful person.”

Brother Jarrett and Brother Wilberg appeared with the guest artist at a news conference Dec. 7, the day before the first of the three concert performances.

With some amusement, Mr. Villazón recounted his experience coming through security with his passport at the airport in Salt Lake City. An agent asked the purpose of his visit.

“I said, ‘I will sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.’ And he said, ‘Oh, you must be good then!’”

Mr. Villazon was effusive in his praise of the choir and orchestra, saying that the excellence of the performers was immediately obvious when he first came into the hall of the Conference Center to rehearse with them.

“One thinks if you put all these good voices together, it will immediately sound good. No, that’s not true. It takes a lot of work. So that was my first impression, hearing this beautiful, homogenous sound.”

But their technical skill was not all he noticed. “The reason why they do it,” also impressed him.

“This enthusiasm for being there, it brings something to the music. It brings a special energy. It brings all the little substances that have to be in music making. And I think that every single voice, every single person playing, they are special individuals. lt was very beautiful, this unselfish part of it, the pure love of joining into everything and delivering this music and this sound as a gift.

“And so, what then do you feel? You feel inspired, and it was wonderful to start rehearsing with them, to talk to them. The feeling is also very friendly, very warm, a genuine, welcoming feeling. It was so easy to start making jokes, to talk to them, to be part of this whole that I was so very impressed to listen to and to see.”

Asked why, of all the things he might be doing at Christmastime, he chose to appear with the choir and orchestra, he replied, “As Mack was saying, the time we were together was special. I was very happy, and I also was very interested to come and perform with this wonderful choir. I mean, their reputation is, of course, fantastic.”

He was somewhat familiar with the choir through the work of his colleague, Bryn Terfel, the Welsh bass-baritone who has appeared and recorded with the choir.

“I had already heard about how wonderful the music-making was,” he said. “but I also thought that it’s a beautiful location.”

The occasion, a Christmas concert, is also beautiful, he said.

“You know what Christmas is about. Regardless of what your beliefs are, what your religion is, I think that Christmas time opens the heart. Christmas is a time that sends us to be with others, and I think that’s what we need, a world that embraces each of us as human beings. We need a world that unites us, and that’s not easy these days. Every opportunity we have to send that message is important.”

The Christmas concert, with its context and talented artists combined with its means of dissemination, is a powerful way to spread that meaning and message of Christmas, he said.

In a departure from past custom, Mr. Villazón this year was the only guest at the concert. Past events have typically included both a musical guest and an actor or other celebrity to do the narration, including the traditional reading of the story of the birth of Christ from Luke.

“Not only is he well-known for his vocal talents, but he hosts his own television show, he’s an author, he’s a stage director, he wears many, many hats and does them all very well,” Brother Wilberg noted.

He has his own television series in France and Germany, “Stars von morgen.” He released his debut novel, “Malabares,” in 2013, he speaks Spanish; French; German and English; and he draws and animates cartoons of himself, which he features on his website.

For the concert, he brought his wife and two children – but not the family dog. She is too big, he said, though she does howl along with him sometimes as he rehearses.

“At first I thought she was not happy about what I sing, and then I realized she was modulating,” he said.

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Thu, 08 Dec 2016 12:05:00 MSTDefending the Faith: Judge Joseph Smith and the legal status of womenhttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668825/Defending-the-Faith-Judge-Joseph-Smith-and-the-legal-status-of-women.html?pg=all
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668825/Defending-the-Faith-Judge-Joseph-Smith-and-the-legal-status-of-women.html?pg=all
Looking through the lens of a medical malpractice case over which he presided, Joseph Smith can be seen as a forward-thinking...
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Although the Prophet Joseph Smith’s Dec. 23 birthday is appropriately overshadowed by the celebration of Christmas, it’s also appropriate to reflect briefly on his life and contributions. Happily, a recently published article — John S. Dinger's “Judge Joseph Smith and the Expansion of the Legal Rights of Women: The Dana v. Brink Trial,” in the Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 42, No. 4, October 2016 — opens a fresh window on him.

We’re accustomed to think of Joseph, who founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as seer, church leader, victim of persecution and martyr. Now we can appreciate what Joseph Smith’s performance as a secular judge tells us about him.

In October 1842, Margaret Dana was expecting her seventh child. Her previous pregnancies had gone well, and she anticipated a routine delivery by the respected Nauvoo midwife Patty Sessions in November. On Oct. 22, though, Dana became ill with pain, fever and diarrhea. Dr. William Brink was summoned, not to deliver the baby but to help with the mother’s illness. However, after a painful internal examination, Brink determined that Margaret’s baby was dead and improperly positioned, that her water had broken, and that he needed to induce labor.

Arriving shortly thereafter, Sessions also examined Dana, correctly concluding that her water wasn’t broken, that the baby was properly positioned and, most importantly, quite alive. She also found, however, that Brink’s internal examination had left the patient lacerated. A small, premature boy was delivered, but Dana endured incontinence and pain for the rest of her life.

In early 19th-century America, marriage wasn’t an equal partnership. Under a concept derived from English common law and known as “coverture,” a woman’s legal identity merged, upon marriage, with her husband’s. Thus, a wife could not bring a lawsuit. Even if she were injured, any suit needed to be filed by her husband. In most cases, she couldn’t even testify. (Likewise, she couldn’t independently own property or enter into a contract.)

Accordingly, after trying privately to resolve the matter with Brink, Charles Dana eventually sued the physician. The case was tried in the Nauvoo Mayor’s Court on March 2-3, 1843. Two attorneys represented the plaintiff and two (including Sidney Rigdon) represented the defendant. Joseph Smith presided, with Orson Spencer serving as “side justice” or assistant judge.

Happily, Willard Richards, a practicing physician who served as Joseph Smith’s scribe and as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, kept a record of the trial proceedings. I offer a few highlights as shared in the article.

Plaintiff’s counsel intended to call various physicians to comment upon witness descriptions of Brink’s treatment of Margaret Dana, but Rigdon insisted that such descriptions be given privately. After some hesitation, Joseph Smith ruled against Rigdon, allowing the other physicians to remain in the room. “With this,” writes Dinger, “Smith made a forward-thinking legal rule that other courts eventually adopted.”

At another point, contending that a wife had no legal standing, defense counsel objected when the plaintiff’s attorneys called Margaret Dana herself to testify. However, citing Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” and “Phillipps and Amos’s Treatise” in what Dinger describes as “a new way of applying the law” that “had not commonly been done in the courts of the day,” Joseph Smith overruled their objection.

After the trial, Joseph spent several days working on his formal decision, which was eventually published in a Nauvoo newspaper. Finding Brink negligent and incompetent, he granted damages to the plaintiff in the amount of $99, the maximum allowed under the law. Strikingly, the decision relies heavily upon the testimony of Prudence Miles, Mary Duel, Sessions and Margaret Dana.

Brink appealed thereafter to the Nauvoo Municipal Court, which declined jurisdiction, and then to the Circuit Court of Hancock County, which, though it reduced Charles Dana’s award from $99 to $75, upheld Joseph Smith’s decision as correct.

“Joseph Smith,” summarizes Dinger, “made important and forward-thinking decisions on topics including the legal status of women, their ability to testify in a civil suit and an exception to coverture.

“The decisions he made in Dana v. Brink were progressive regarding the legal status of women in a trial," Dinger writes. "His crafting of an exception to the common law doctrine of coverture and allowing a wife to testify in trial is significant and shows great ability as a judge.”

The director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would rather walk into an old music shop and spend a few hours searching for the "rare gems," something that sounds fresh, he said.

"People laugh at me," Wilberg said in an interview with the Deseret News. "For me, it's like being a kid in a candy shop. I just want to devour it all."

More than a hobby, Wilberg's glee in sifting through stacks of music in cities around the world has resulted in finding bags of music later arranged into soul-stirring compositions and used as recently as the 2015 Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert.

That could be the case again this year as the world-famous choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and Bells on Temple Square, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prepare for the annual Christmas concert with guest artist Rolando Villazón at the Conference Center Dec. 8-10.

"It’s the one time of the year when we bring many forces together. Not only is it the choir, orchestra and bells, but we also have our dancers and a magnificent stage set. Then you couple that with a guest artist, it makes for something special and spectacular," Wilberg said. "Let me also say that Christmastime, and in particular Christmas music, and Christmas presentations or concerts, bring out the very best in all of us."

Wilberg said it's a privilege and a blessing to be involved with the Christmas concert each year. When asked for a sneak peek of what is to come, the director smiled and politely declined. He did offer one thought about the upcoming concert, however, citing examples from the Muppets' appearance in 2014 to the performance of Handel's "Messiah" in 2015.

"It's safe to say there will be some things in this concert that have never been done before," said Wilberg, who was appointed director of the choir in 2008. "And you can say that about every concert. There is always something unique about each Christmas concert."

Wilberg was willing to pull back the curtain and discuss how he prepared for the 2015 Christmas concert that featured guest artists Broadway star Laura Osnes and British screen and voice actor Martin Jarvis.

Wilberg is always looking for new music. When the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was touring Europe last July, Wilberg made time to visit music shops in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Paris. Most of what he found he had to send home. He carried the rest: "I was at my weight limit with my bags," he said.

In November 2015, Wilberg was in Paris on another trip. He had always known about the existence of some old French Christmas carols, and with Christmas season coming, he wanted to find them. After looking around for an hour and a half, he found a small section of Christmas music that included several collections of old French Christmas carols published around the 1930s or 1940s. At first glance, he thought five or six would make good settings for the opener in the Christmas concert, he said.

The choir did not sing in French. Friend and collaborator David Warner assisted in preparing the music in English, and there is more music in the collections to be used later, Wilberg said.

For the last 32 years, Wilberg has, at times, composed his masterpieces using a piano from Vermont that once belonged to his wife's grandmother. For 15 years in one home, the old piano fit best in the fruit room with the canned goods and extra detergent. In another home for five years, the piano was relegated to the unfinished, unheated basement. For two of those 32 years, some of the keys didn't work. Wilberg continued by "imagining" the sound of the note in his ears until he finally replaced the strings. In his current home, the piano sits by a window with a view, he said.

A chorale musician is at his very busiest around Christmastime, he said. When he isn't at home, the director has been known to compose music while flying on an airplane, without a piano.

"It's mainly when I am under a deadline, not that I am just compelled to write," Wilberg said. "But I have a lot to do."

After all his efforts to find and develop the music, it's still difficult for the director to find much pleasure in the performance, unless he's in the audience, he said.

"Believe it or not, it’s stressful," he said. "It’s not you stand there and say, 'Oh, isn’t this great?' You are worried about things like are we together? Is it in tune? Did I orchestrate this so it will sound good? ... Sometimes I prefer when I can hear other people conduct my music so I can sit out and actually hear it. When you are in the middle of it, sometimes it’s a little bit hard to hear and get the whole effect."

The pinnacle of the whole process for Wilberg is knowing he's done a successful job, he said.

Each Christmas concert begins at 8 p.m. While all concert tickets were previously distributed, patrons can join a standby line at the flagpole on the east side of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. For more information, visit mormontabernaclechoir.org.